Wide tires

[mistercool98]

I have a 71 Mach 1 that had been in the family for years.  My dad had always run air shocks to jack the rear end up.  I put new leaf springs and coil over shocks.  Still needs something to stop the wider tires from hitting the back quarters.  Looking in to bigger bump stops.  The leaf springs have about 12 inches of travel and those last couple aren't really needed.  Eventually I plan to go with subframe connectors and other expensive upgrades to drag race and some autocross, but for now just trying to get the tires to not rub.  Thought about going back to the original look with the same size tires front and back, but with 545 HP I'm not sure that is really an option.  Let me know your thoughts.  Thank you!

 

[midlife]

These cars are not designed for air shocks or coil over shocks, as the sheet metal on the top of the shocks are not reinforced and often crack with air shocks. Your true solution is to get rid of tires that are too wide for the design limits of the 7123's.

 

[mudbilly]

You could put in some longer spring shackles or try and find some springs with more arch, or have yours re-arched .

 

[Don C]

How wide are your tires? What wheel size and backspacing?

I would suggest you search the forum and see what sizes of wheels and tires other members have been able to run without clearance problems.

Also, please go to Introductions and introduce yourself and your car. Be forewarned, we like pictures of your car.

 

[Hemikiller]

You could get some rims with proper backspacing so they don't hit the wheel lips....

 

[mistercool98]

Thanks for the replies, I tried adding pictures earlier and the file was too big. I'll try again later.

 

[mistercool98]

 

[NOT A T5]

Welcome from Omaha!

 

[Don C]

You can go here and play around with the tires sizes in the spreadsheet to get an idea of what different tire sizes has on your car.

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-tire-sizes--11566?pid=115406#pid115406

 

[Mister 4x4]

I started out with a set of Cragar S/Ss 15x10s in the rear.  Off the shelf, they came with 4 1/4" back spacing.  I later went through Summit Racing and ordered a set of 15x10 Cragar S/Ss with custom backspacing of 5 1/4" - no more issues.  The tires are 295/50R15s.

With the old wheels:

With the new wheels:

Here's the difference:

old:

New:

The only sucky part is that you'll need to find someone who can use the 4 1/4" backspacing rims on their car to sell 'em to.

Hope this helps.

 

[tony-muscle]

I have 295x15s in rear and they look just like Mister 4x4's. Looking at my car, with a larger backspace i think i could fit a bit wider tire without issues.

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[mistercool98]

I am going back and forth between ordering the custom backspacing Crager 15x10 wheels from Summit for the rear or going to Thrust 2's. Looks like the Thrust 2 wheel 15x10 has the same issue though. Might have to just get an 8 inch wheel to correct it. I will miss the deep dish. Any thoughts?

 

[Mister 4x4]

Are your wheels 15x10s, because they look a little smallish.  That, or the tires have some big sidewalls (like 60-series, rather than 50-series).

Here's what the Torque Thrust IIs look like on our cars.  This was the inspiration car for me to get mine back in 2010.  I tried to contact the owner, but no answer.  I did happen to see in the close-ups pics of the wheels that the tires are actually 255s up front, and 275s out back - not sure about the backspacing of the rear wheels, though.  They look pretty close to what I had on mine before I got the custom BS Cragars I have now.

Those don't look like 275s to me, however.

I'd originally wanted the Torque Thrust IIs for mine as well, but saw that everybody and their dog had them at a local car show I went to... so, I went with the Cragars instead.

Here's a link to the article about the car: http://www.mustangandfords.com/featured-vehicles/mdmp-1005-1971-ford-mustang-mach-1/

You'll also only lose a little bit of the deep dish effect if you go with the custom back spacing like I did.

Good luck with the decision.

 

[BeerDontCount]

You might want to contact Cragar to see if their custom shop is back up and running. I waited for over a year for this and finally gave up and ordered the torque thrust in June.

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[Mister 4x4]

You might want to contact Cragar to see if their custom shop is back up and running. I waited for over a year for this and finally gave up and ordered the torque thrust in June.

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When did they shut down?  I ordered mine thru Summit Racing sometime in early 2016, and they relayed the custom back spacing to Cragar - the wheels showed up around 2.5 - 3 weeks later.

That would be a good idea to check in with either Summit or Cragar, though.  Good call! ::thumb::

 

[BeerDontCount]

I ordered thru Summit in spring 2017, and 6 weeks later Cragar canceled the order saying they were moving the custom shop. I checked back every 3 months for a year and finally gave up. They might be back up and running now. Idk. I like my torq thrust just fine.

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[mistercool98]

The 15x10 Thrust 2 wheels look like the same backspacing as the Cragers. If so, I'll have to go 8 inch wheel.

 

[BeerDontCount]

Summit will take custom bs orders for torq IIs. I went with 5".

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[Vinnie]

Just came across this photo. Not a Mustang and probably not what you’re after but still...